* 


v 


ALICE  FREEMAN  PALMER 


LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 

PRESENTED  BY 
CARROLL  PURSELL 


A^SERVICE 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

ALICE  FREEMAN  PALMER 

HELD  BY 

HER  FRIENDS  AND  ASSOCIATES 

IN  APPLETON  CHAPEL 

HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 

JANUARY  THIRTY-FIRST 

MDCCCCIII 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 


NOTHING  IS  HERE  FOR  TEARS,  NOTHING  TO  WAIL, 
DISPRAISE  OR  BLAME,  NOTHING  BUT  WELL  AND  FAIR, 
AND  WHAT  MAY  gUIET  US  IN  A  DEATH  SO  NOBLE. 

JOHN  MILTON 


THIS  volume  contains  both  programme 
and  report  of  a  memorial  service  at  Cam- 
bridge in  honor  of  Mrs.  Palmer.  The 
report  is  made  complete  in  order  that 
her  friends  who  were  present  may  pre- 
serve, and  those  who  were  absent  may 
experience,  the  feelings  of  beauty,  thank- 
fulness, and  courage  inspired  by  thoughts 
of  her  on  that  unique  occasion.  Here  every- 
thing is  presented  except  the  music. 

To  compensate  in  some  measure  for  this 
large  and  necessary  loss,  five  photographs 
are  added,  tracing  the  development  of  her 
character  and  features  during  the  past  forty 
years.  The  first  of  them  was  taken  when 
she  was  a  child  of  six;  the  second,  just  be- 
fore she  entered  Michigan  University;  the 
third,  during  her  first  year  as  President 
of  Wellesley;  the  fourth,  at  the  request  of 
the  University  of  Chicago  for  its  decennial 
celebration,  showing  her  in  the  gown  of  a 
Doctor  of  Laws,  and  commemorating  her 

7 


services  as  Dean;  the  fifth  gives  the 
woman  of  recent  years,  as  she  appeared  in 
private  life.  Perhaps  it  may  suggest  some- 
thing of  the  charm  of  her  generous  and 
searching  face.  Any  adequate  representa- 
tion of  that  face  is  impossible.  No  instru- 
ment was  swift  and  subtle  enough  to  catch 
its  perpetual  change  or  to  mark  the  strange 
combination  in  it  of  humor  with  seriousness, 
duty  with  enjoyment,  nimbleness  of  the 
physical  senses  with  high  spirituality,  saint- 
hood with  vivacious  interest  in  every  mov- 
ing thing.  Yet  in  this  final  picture  one  sees 
her  in  full  health  and  spirits,  and  as  nearly 
as  possible  as  she  was  in  Paris  when  struck 
by  the  rare  disease, —  intussusception  of 
the  intestine,  —  which  suddenly  closed  her 
life  on  December  sixth.  It  is  a  disease 
mechanical  in  nature,  of  unknown  origin, 
almost  invariably  fatal,  though  not  violently 
painful.  Originally  of  a  frail  constitution, 
she  early  perceived  that  health  would  be 
an  important  condition  of  her  work.  She 

8 


gained  it  by  diligence,  guarded  it  through 
many  severe  strains,  and  fortunately  pre- 
served it  to  the  last. 

Miss  Hazard  has  beautifully  said  that  the 
hymn  sung  at  this  service  might  well  de- 
scribe the  mingled  perplexity  and  peace  of 
Mrs.  Palmer's  Wellesley  days.  It  might, 
indeed.  In  reality  it  was  written  two  years 
ago.  As  she  lay  ill  at  Boxford,  lightning 
struck  the  house  and  destroyed  the  cham- 
ber adjoining  her  own.  She  seemed  much 
interested  in  the  novel  event,  as  if  it  were 
something  contrived  for  her  entertainment. 
It  did  not  apparently  disturb  her.  No  one 
knew  that  she  had  written  about  it,  or  in- 
deed that  she  was  in  the  practice  of  writing 
verse.  After  her  death,  among  many  other 
poems,  this  hymn  was  found  with  the  date 
attached.  In  it  a  nature  truly  reserved, 
however  responsive  to  human  needs,  had 
announced  the  sources  of  its  calm. 

G.  H.  P. 

HARVARD  UNIVERSITY,  February  21 ', 
9 


DECEMBER  SIXTH 

MDCCCCII 

WHEN  FELL,  TO-DAY,  THE  WORD  THAT  SHE  HAD  GONE, 
NOT  THIS  MY  THOUGHT  I    HERE  A  BRIGHT  JOURNEY  ENDS, 
HERE  RESTS  A  SOUL  UNRESTING  ;    HERE,  AT  LAST, 
HERE  ENDS  THAT  EARNEST  STRENGTH,  THAT  GENEROUS  LIFE 
FOR  ALL  HER  LIFE  WAS  GIVING.      RATHER  THIS 

i  SAID  (AFTER  THE  FIRST  SWIFT,  SORROWING  PANG)  : 

HENCE,  ON  A  NEW  QUEST,  STARTS  AN  EAGER  SPIRIT 

NO  DREAD,  NO  DOUBT,  UNHESITATING  FORTH 

WITH  ASKING  EYES  }    PURE  AS  THE  BODILESS  SOULS 

WHOM  POETS  VISION  NEAR  THE  CENTRAL  THRONE 

ANGELICALLY  MINISTRANT  TO  MAN  ; 

SO  FARES  SHE  FORTH  WITH  SMILING,  GODWARD  FACE  ; 

NOR  SHOULD  WE  GRIEVE,  BUT  GIVE  ETERNAL  THANKS 

SAVE  THAT  WE  MORTAL  ARE,  AND  NEEDS  MUST  MOURN. 

RICHARD   WATSON   GILDER 


ORDER  OF  SERVICE 

IN  HAPPY  MEMORY  OF 

ALICE  FREEMAN  PALMER 

1855-1902 


CHORAL 


FROM  MENDELSSOHN'S  SAINT  PAUL 


SUNG  BY  THE  CHOIR  OF  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 
[THE  CONGREGATION  STANDING] 

5T0  God  on  high  be  thanks  and  praise, 
Who  deigns  our  bonds  to  sever, 

His  cares  our  drooping  souls  upraise, 
And  harm  shall  reach  us  never. 

On  Him  we  rest  with  faith  assured. 

Of  all  that  live  the  Mighty  Lord, 
For  ever  and  for  ever. 


PRAYER 

BY 

REVEREND  FRANCIS  GREENWOOD  PEABODY 
PLUMMER    PROFESSOR    IN    HARVARD   UNIVERSITY 


ALMIGHTY  GOD,  who  art  ever  more  ready 
to  hear  than  we  are  to  pray,  we  gather  in 
Thy  presence  with  our  precious  memories 
and  our  consoling  hopes,  and  ask  Thy 
blessing  upon  our  thoughts  and  prayers. 
We  bring  to  Thee,  not  our  mourning 
only,  but  our  gratitude ;  not  our  sorrow 
only,  but  our  praise.  We  look  beyond  the 
things  that  are  seen  and  temporal  to  the 
things  which  are  unseen  and  eternal;  and 
through  the  suffering  of  this  present  time 
to  the  things  which  God  has  prepared  for 
those  that  love  Him.  Direct  us,  then,  in  all 
our  doings  to-day  with  Thy  most  gracious 
favor  and  further  us  with  Thy  continual 
help,  that  we  may  glorify  Thy  holy  name, 
and  finally  by  Thy  mercy  obtain  everlast- 
ing life.  We  ask  it  in  His  name  who  bids 
us  pray  together : 

Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven,  Hal- 
lowed be  Thy  name.  Thy  kingdom  come. 
Thy  will  be  done  on  earth,  As  it  is  in  heaven. 


Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread.  And  for- 
give us  our  trespasses,  As  we  forgive  those 
who  trespass  against  us.  And  lead  us  not 
into  temptation,  But  deliver  us  from  evil : 
For  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power, 
and  the  glory,  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen. 


xo 


SCRIPTURE   READING 

BY 
REVEREND  FRANCIS  GREENWOOD  PEABODY 


THE  memorial  of  virtue  is  immortal  : 
because  it  is  known  with  God  and  with 
men.  When  it  is  present,  men  take  ex- 
ample at  it;  and  when  it  is  gone,  they 
desire  it;  it  weareth  a  crown,  and  tri- 
umpheth  for  ever,  having  gotten  the  vic- 
tory, striving  for  undefiled  rewards. 

For  honorable  age  is  not  that  which 
standeth  in  length  of  time,  nor  that  is  mea- 
sured by  number  of  years.  But  wisdom  is 
the  gray  hair  unto  men,  and  an  unspotted 
life  is  old  age.  Thus  the  righteous  that  is 
dead  shall  condemn  the  ungodly  which  are 
living :  and  youth  that  is  soon  perfected  the 
many  years  and  •  old  age  of  the  unright- 
eous. 

Happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  wisdom, 
and  the  man  that  getteth  understanding : 
for  the  merchandise  of  it  is  better  than  the 
merchandise  of  silver,  and  the  gain  thereof 
than  fine  gold.  Her  ways  are  ways  of 
pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths  are  peace. 


She  is  a  tree  of  life  to  them  that  lay  hold 
upon  her;  and  happy  is  every  one  that 
retaineth  her. 

But  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is 
first  pure,  then  peaceable,  gentle,  and  easy 
to  be  entreated,  full  of  mercy  and  good 
fruits,  without  partiality  and  without  hypoc- 
risy. 

When  the  ear  heard  me,  then  it  blessed 
me:  and  when  the  eye  saw  me,  it  gave  wit- 
ness to  me :  because  I  .delivered  the  poor 
that  cried,  and  the  fatherless,  and  him  that 
had  none  to  help  him.  Unto  me  men  gave 
ear,  and  waited,  and  kept  silence  at  my 
counsel.  After  my  words  they  spake  not 
again ;  and  my  speech  dropped  upon  them. 
And  they  waited  for  me  as  for  the  rain; 
and  they  opened  their  mouth  wide  as  for 
the  latter  rain. 

And  he  opened  his  mouth  and  taught 
them,  saying:  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Blessed  are  they  that  mourn :  for  they  shall 

24 


be  comforted.  Blessed  are  the  meek:  for 
they  shall  inherit  the  earth.  Blessed  are 
they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness:  for  they  shall  be  filled. 
Blessed  are  the  merciful :  for  they  shall  ob- 
tain mercy.  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart : 
for  they  shall  see  God.  Wherefore  by 
their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them. 

Then  shall  the  King  say  unto  them  on 
his  right  hand,  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my 
Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for 
you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  :  For 
I  was  ahungered  and  ye  gave  me  meat :  I 
was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink  :  I  was  a 
stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in.  Then  shall  the 
righteous  answer  him,  saying,  Lord,  when 
saw  we  thee  ahungered,  and  fed  thee  ?  or 
thirsty,  and  gave  thee  drink  ?  When  saw 
we  thee  a  stranger,  and  took  thee  in  ?  And 
the  King  shall  answer  and  say  unto  them, 
Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Inasmuch  as  ye  have 
done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my 
brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me. 


I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life,  saith 
the  Lord.  He  that  believeth  in  me,  though 
he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live,  and  who- 
soever liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall 
never  die.  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled : 
ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me.  In 
my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions  :  if 
it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you.  I  go 
to  prepare  a  place  for  you.  And  if  I  go 
and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will  come 
again,  and  receive  you  unto  myself;  that 
where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also. 

And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
,  earth;  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first 
earth  were  passed  away.  And  he  that  sat 
upon  the  throne  said,  Behold,  I  make  all 
things  new.  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the 
beginning  and  the  end.  I  will  give  unto 
him  that  is  athirst  of  the  fountain  of  the 
water  of  life  freely.  He  that  overcometh 
shall  inherit  all  things;  and  I  will  be  his 
God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son.  And  I  heard 
a  voice  from  heaven  saying  unto  me,  Write, 

26 


Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord. 
Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest 
from  their  labors ;  and  their  works  do  fol- 
low them. 


27 


ADDRESS 

BY  JAMES  BURRILL  ANGELL 
PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


THE  University  of  Michigan  counts  it  a 
high  honor  to  be  permitted  to  share  in 
these  services,  commemorative  of  one  of 
her  most  distinguished  graduates.  Person- 
ally I  am  very  grateful  for  the  privilege  of 
joining  with  the  many  Eastern  friends  of 
Mrs.  Alice  Freeman  Palmer  in  recalling 
the  beautiful  and  fruitful  life  of  one  whom 
I  have  known  intimately  from  the  day  of 
her  admission  to  the  University,  and  whom 
through  all  her  remarkable  career  I  have 
watched  with  pride  and  affection. 

It  is  naturally  expected  that  I  shall  speak 
of  her  earlier  years,  prior  to  her  connection 
with  Wellesley  College,  and  especially  of 
her  undergraduate  life. 

In  September,  1872,  she  presented  her- 
self at  my  office  accompanied  by  her  fa- 
ther, a  reputable  physician  of  Windsor,  a 
small  town  in  central  New  York,  to  apply 
for  admission  to  the  University.  She  was 
a  simple,  modest  girl  of  seventeen.  She 

3* 


had  pursued  her  studies  in  the  little  acad- 
emy in  Windsor.  Her  teachers  regarded 
her  as  a  child  of  much  promise,  precocious, 
possessed  of  a  bright,  alert  mirid,  of  great 
industry,  of  quick  sympathies,  and  of  an 
instinctive  desire  to  be  helpful  to  others. 
Her  preparation  for  college  had  been 
rather  meagre,  and  both  she  and  her  father 
were  somewhat  doubtful  about  her  ability 
to  pass  the  required  examinations.  The 
doubts  were  not  without  foundation.  The 
examiners,  on  inspecting  her  work,  were 
inclined  to  decide  that  she  ought  to 
do  more  preparatory  work  before  they 
could  accept  her.  Meantime  I  had  had 
not  a  little  conversation  with  her  and  her 
father,  and  had  been  impressed  with  her 
high  intelligence.  Therefore  at  my  request 
the  examiners  decided  to  allow  her  to  en- 
ter on  a  trial  of  six  weeks.  I  was  confident 
she  would  demonstrate  her  capacity  to  go 
on  with  her  class.  I  need  hardly  add  that 
it  was  soon  apparent  to  her  instructors 

32 


that  my  confidence  was  fully  justified.  She 
speedily  gained  and  constantly  held  an  ex- 
cellent position  as  a  scholar.  She  did  not 
evince  a  decided  choice  for  any  one  study 
to  the  neglect  of  others ;  but  with  conscien- 
tious industry  did  all  her  work  in  a  cred- 
itable manner.  She  was  a  very  active 
member  of  a  debating  club  which  the 
college  girls  of  her  time  maintained,  and 
no  doubt  there  gained  something  of  her 
unusual  felicity  in  public  address.  One 
of  her  classmates  writes  me  as  follows  of 
Miss  Freeman's  work  in  this  club :  "  She 
always  spoke  readily  and  with  superabun- 
dance of  good  spirits.  She  had  a  keen  sense 
of  humor  that  always  stood  her  in  good 
stead.  In  speaking,  her  humor  was  invari- 
ably kindly  and  never  degenerated  into 
sarcasm.  It  was  impossible  to  think  of  her 
saying  an  unkind  or  ungenerous  word.  An 
almost  over-supply  of  healthy  animal  spir- 
its gave  her  speaking  an  exuberance  of 
expression  that  led  her  to  pour  out  words 

33 


with  the  greatest  rapidity.  Later  she  spoke 
more  slowly  and  with  a  finish  and  polish  she 
necessarily  lacked  as  a  girl." 

One  of  her  most  striking  characteristics 
in  college  was  her  warm  and  demonstrative 
sympathy  with  her  circle  of  friends.  Her 
soul  seemed  bubbling  over  with  joy,  which 
she  wished  to  share  with  the  other  girls. 
While  she  was  therefore  in  most  friendly 
relations  with  all  the  girls  then  in  college, 
she  was  the  radiant  centre  of  a  considerable 
group  whose  tastes  were  congenial  with 
her  own.  Without  assuming  or  striving  for 
leadership,  she  could  not  but  be  to  a  cer- 
tain degree  a  leader  among  these,  some  of 
whom  have  since  attained  to  positions  only 
less  conspicuous  for  usefulness  than  her 
own.  Her  nature  was  so  large  and  gen- 
erous and  free  from  envy  that  she  was 
esteemed  by  all  her  comrades,  whether 
they  cherished  exactly  her  ideals  or  not. 
Wherever  she  was,  her  genial,  outgoing 
spirit  seemed  to  carry  with  her  an  atmos- 

34 


phere  of  cheerfulness  and  joy.  No  girl 
of  her  time  on  withdrawing  from  college 
would  have  been  more  missed  than  she. 

During  her  college  course  she  was  con- 
spicuous in  religious  activity  in  connection 
with  the  Students'  Christian  Association. 
Her  religious  life  was  of  that  cheerful, 
hopeful,  optimistic,  inspiring  type,  which 
characterized  it  in  her  maturer  years,  and 
which  always  commended  the  Christian 
faith  in  such  winsome  ways  to  those  who 
came  within  the  sphere  of  her  influence. 

Her  teachers  saw  with  the  highest  satis- 
faction that  as  the  years  went  on  she  was 
ripening  into  a  womanhood  which  promised 
conspicuous  usefulness  in  some  career.  Yet 
I  think  they  and  her  classmates  would  all 
agree  with  me  that  she  afterwards  more 
than  made  good  the  promise  of  her  under- 
graduate days.  For  she  had  reserved 
power  which  did  not  then  manifest  itself 
in  all  its  strength,  and  she  never  ceased  to 
grow  in  intellectual  and  moral  and  spirit- 

35 


ual  power  in  all  the  years  of  her  crowded 
life. 

A  part  was  assigned  to  her  for  Com- 
mencement. She  spoke  on  «  The  Conflict 
between  Science  and  Poetry/*  So  far  as  I 
remember,  she  attempted  to  set  forth  the 
contrast  between  the  intellectual  methods 
of  the  scientific  investigator  on  the  one 
hand  and  those  of  the  creative  poet  on  the 
other,  and  to  show  that  the  imagination 
which  so  richly  served  the  poet  might  well 
be  of  service  to  the  scientist  in  construct- 
ing theories  to  guide  him  in  his  quest  after 
truth.  It  happened  to  fall  to  me  in  the 
year  of  her  graduation  to  supervise  the 
preparation  of  the  speakers  for  Commence- 
ment. I  well  remember  that  she  was  very 
timid  and  anxious  about  delivering  her 
speech  to  the  audience  of  three  thousand. 
She,  who  afterwards  so  often  had  the  easy 
mastery  of  great  assemblies,  had  then  never 
been  subjected  to  the  trying  ordeal  before 
her.  But  she  had  hardly  uttered  two  sen- 

36 


tences  when  it  was  clear  to  me  that  she  had 
the  whole  of  that  vast  audience  hanging 
upon  her  lips,  as  in  her  later  years  she 
always  held  her  audiences  spellbound  to 
the  very  last  syllable  that  she  uttered.  I 
think  we  shall  all  agree  that  few  are  the 
speakers  who  had  in  so  large  measure  as 
she  that  magnetic,  that  unanalyzable,  that 
inexplicable  power,  divinely  given  now  and 
then  to  some  fortunate  man  or  woman,  of 
captivating  and  charming  and  holding  com- 
plete possession  of  assemblies  from  the  first 
to  the  last  utterance. 

May  I  be  permitted  to  refer  to  one  of 
her  triumphs  as  a  speaker  over  a  small  au- 
dience, a  triumph  not  only  for  herself,  but 
also  for  her  sex.  Years  ago  the  Michigan 
Alumni  in  New  York  decided  for  the  first 
time  to  invite  a  few  ladies,  also  Michigan 
graduates,  to  their  annual  banquet.  One 
of  these  ladies  was  Alice  Freeman,  then 
President  of  Wellesley  College.  The  de- 
cision to  invite  these  ladies  had  been  very 

37 


reluctantly  acceded  to  by  some  of  the  older 
men,  who  had  been  graduated  before 
women  were  admitted  to  the  University, 
and  who  looked  with  old-fashioned  disap- 
proval, not  to  say  contempt,  on  the  very 
idea  of  giving  college  education  to  women. 
They  contrived  to  seat  themselves  at  a  safe 
distance  from  the  ladies.  After  several 
speeches  had  been  made  by  men,  Miss 
Freeman  was  introduced.  Some  of  these 
elderly  gentlemen,  without  showing  any 
discourtesy,  tried  to  appear  indifferent  for 
a  few  moments.  But  soon,  as  the  speaker 
proceeded  in  her  modest  and  tactful  man- 
ner, their  indifference  melted  away.  Their 
eyes  were  turned  toward  her  with  an  air 
of  mingled  surprise  and  interest.  In  a  few 
moments  they  became  thoroughly  ab- 
sorbed in  her  utterances.  They  and  all 
the  guests  were  listening  to  her  graceful 
words  with  the  most  undivided  attention. 
When  she  closed,  the  hall  rang  with  ap- 
plause, and  one  of  the  most  conservative 

38 


of  these  men  exclaimed  with  enthusiasm, 
"  Well,  well,  if  that  is  what  the  college 
education  of  women  means,  I  have  nothing 
more  to  say/' 

When  Mr.  Durant  founded  Wellesley 
College,  so  few  women  had  received  col- 
lege education  that  he  experienced  some 
difficulty  in  finding  enough  suitable  candi- 
dates for  the  professorial  chairs.  On  my 
recommendation  he  appointed  three  or 
four  Michigan  graduates,  who  proved  so 
satisfactory  that  he  wrote  to  me  to  inform 
him  at  any  time  when  we  graduated  such 
a  woman  as  I  thought  he  ought  to  ap- 
point. Not  long  after  Miss  Freeman's 
graduation  I  wrote  him  that  he  ought  to 
secure  her.  For  some  reason  he  did  not 
then  act  on  the  suggestion.  It  so  happened 
that  I  had  occasion,  I  think  in  the  year 
1879,  to  visit  the  high  school  in  East  Sagi- 
naw,  of  which  she  was  then  principal.  I 
attended  a  class  in  English  Literature  which 
she  was  teaching.  The  class  was  largely 

39 


composed  of  boys  of  from  fifteen  to  eigh- 
teen years  of  age,  in  whom  one  would 
perhaps  hardly  expect  much  enthusiasm 
for  the  great  masters  of  English  Literature. 
But  it  was  soon  apparent  that  she  had 
those  boys,  as  she  always  had  her  classes, 
completely  under  her  control  and  largely 
filled  with  her  own  enthusiasm.  They 
showed  that  at  their  homes  they  had  been 
carefully  and  lovingly  reading  some  of  the 
great  masterpieces,  and  were  ready  to  dis- 
cuss them  with  intelligence  and  zest.  I 
have  never  witnessed  finer  work  of  the 
kind  with  a  class  of  that  sort. 

When  I  returned  home,  I  wrote  to  Mr. 
Durant  that  he  must  appoint  the  woman 
whose  remarkable  work  I  had  been  wit- 
nessing, that  he  could  not  afford  to  let  her 
slip  out  of  his  hand.  Whether  my  letter  led 
to  his  decision  to  call  her  to  Wellesley,  I 
do  not  know.  But  he  did  call  her  and  she 
went.  The  rest  is  matter  of  history. 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  she  ever  manifested 
40 


the  most  loving  fealty  to  her  Alma  Mater. 
At  our  invitation  she  came  repeatedly  to 
deliver  addresses  to  our  students,  and  al- 
ways to  their  edification  and  delight.  Her 
last  visit  was  at  Commencement  in  1901, 
when  her  class  celebrated  its  twenty-fifth 
anniversary.  No  one  of  the  class  entered 
with  greater  zest  into  the  spirit  of  the  occa- 
sion. I  never  saw  her  more  buoyant  and 
joyful.  She  was  a  girl  again,  the  life  and 
inspiration  of  the  class.  They  selected  her 
to  respond  for  them  to  my  call  at  the  Com- 
mencement dinner.  How  I  wish  I  had  a 
copy  of  her  speech  to  read  to  you  here! 
I  never  heard  her  speak  more  charmingly 
and  pathetically.  Wit,  humor,  reminis- 
cence, affection  for  her  classmates,  grati- 
tude to  her  Alma  Mater,  — all  were  there. 
Her  voice  was  tremulous  with  emotion. 
Never  have  I  seen  her  audience  more  com- 
pletely swayed  by  her.  Alas!  that  her 
sweet  voice  shall  never  more  be  heard  in 
our  halls ! 

41 


You  here  in  Massachusetts,  where  most 
of  her  public  services  were  rendered,  may 
well  be  grateful  for  what  she  has  done  for 
you.  We  share  to  the  full  your  joy  in  her 
achievements.  But  her  Alma  Mater  may 
be  pardoned  for  feeling  a  maternal  pride 
and  a  tenderness  of  affection  for  her  which 
only  the  mother  can  feel  for  the  loving  and 
beloved  daughter. 


HYMN 

SUNG  BY  THE  CHOIR  OF  WELLESLEY  COLLEGE 

"  He  shall  give  his  angels  charge 
Over  thee  in  all  thy  ways." 

Though  the  thunders  roam  at  large, 
Though  the  lightning  round  me  plays, 

Like  a  child  I  lay  my  head 

In  sweet  sleep  upon  my  bed. 

Though  the  terror  come  so  close. 
It  shall  have  no  power  to  smite ; 

It  shall  deepen  my  repose. 
Turn  the  darkness  into  light. 

Touch  of  angels1  hands  is  sweet ; 

Not  a  stone  shall  hurt  my  feet. 

All  Thy  waves  and  billows  go 

Over  me  to  press  me  down 
Into  arms  so  strong  I  know 

They  will  never  let  me  drown. 
Ah!  my  God,  how  good  Thy  will! 
I  will  nestle  and  be  still. 

ALICE    FREEMAN    PALMER 


ADDRESS 

BY  CAROLINE  HAZARD 
PRESIDENT  OF  WELLESLEY  COLLEGE 


As  I  RISE  in  this  Chapel  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, the  fact  comes  over  me  with  over- 
whelming force  that  if  it  had  not  been  for 
the  dear  friend  we  are  gathered  to  honor 
to-day,  in  all  human  probability  I  should 
not  be  here  to  add  my  word  of  grateful 
recognition  and  reverent  praise;  for  it  was 
she  who  first  spoke  to  me  of  the  possibility 
of  coming  to  Wellesley,  finding  an  oppor- 
tunity in  what  to  any  one  else  would  have 
been  the  hopeless  confusion  of  a  crowded 
reception.  Never  shall  I  forget  her  con- 
tagious enthusiasm,  to  which  my  own  re- 
sponded ;  and  though  weeks  elapsed  before 
a  final  decision  was  reached,  my  heart  had 
capitulated  long  before  my  mind  was  con- 
vinced. 

If  one  were  to  sum  up  in  one  word  the 
life  of  the  noble  woman  we  think  of  to- 
day, would  it  not  be  described  as  a  life  of 
service?  The  eager  soul,  poised  and  an- 
chored securely,  so  that  it  could  swing  in 

47 


wide  circles,  was  ever  responsive  to  a  call 
for  help,  it  heard  the  Macedonian  cry,  and 
its  country  was  the  world.  How  apt  we 
are  to  become  a  little  hardened,  a  little  im- 
patient at  the  constant  appeals  for  sympa- 
thy, for  advice,  and  yet  I  dare  to  say  that 
no  human  being  ever  appealed  to  Alice 
Freeman  Palmer  without  receiving  good 
measure,  pressed  down  and  running  over, 
of  cheer,  of  comfort,  of  sound  worldly  wis- 
dom. That  was  her  distinction.  She  was 
an  idealist  to  whom  everything  pure  and 
high  appealed,  she  was  full  of  enthusiasm, 
and  she  was  a  practical  woman  of  affairs,  a 
woman  who  managed  her  household  well, 
and  who  was  fitted  to  advise  and  to  act  in 
every  emergency  of  life.  She  exemplified 
her  own  doctrine  that  a  wide  education 
opens  new  doors  of  usefulness  to  a  woman, 
and  does  not  cjose  any  of  the  time-honored 
avenues. 

We  have  heard  how  she  came  to  Welles- 
ley.    A  new  experiment  it  was,  an  experi- 


ment  founded  in  a  high  enthusiasm,  and  on 
the  very  first  day  of  the  college  year  the 
great  hall  was  filled.  Mount  Holyoke,  not 
yet  a  college,  and  Vassar  were  the  only 
forerunners.  Smith  was  breaking  ground 
and  making  its  own  experiments.  It  was 
pioneer  work.  "  Do  you  see  that  little 
black-eyed  girl?"  Mr.  Durant  said  one 
day  to  Governor  Claflin.  "She  is  the 
future  President  of  Wellesley  College." 
Soon  his  strong  controlling  personality  was 
removed,  and  Miss  Freeman,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-six,  assumed  the  duties  of  presi- 
dent, —  a  girl,  surrounded  by  her  girls.  So 
Abbott  Thayer  has  delighted  to  paint  her, 
in  a  clinging  white  gown,  the  serious  brown 
eyes  looking  wistfully  at  the  beholder. 
For  a  little  more  than  six  years  she  held 
the  office  and  showed  what  a  woman  presi- 
dent can  be.  There  were  earnest  and  able 
women  on  the  faculty  to  assist  her.  A 
scholar  was  at  the  head  of  the  department 
of  Greek,  and  a  young  instructor  in  it  had 

49 


as  a  sophomore  received  her  when  she 
came  to  Michigan  University.  The  Profes- 
sor of  Mathematics  was  an  Oberlin  woman 
with  a  fine,  clear  mind,  and  great  gifts  as 
a  teacher,  so  that  the  impress  of  her  work 
still  holds  the  traditions  of  Wellesley  Math- 
ematics. Latin  and  Philosophy  were  also 
well  represented.  But  the  College  lacked 
a  leader,  lacked  the  organizing  force  which 
should  make  it  a  whole.  Twenty  years 
ago  there  were  fewer  devices  for  labor- 
saving.  Stenographers  were  not  yet  in  the 
field,  secretaries  still  wrote  long-hand. 
And  so  with  scanty  help,  working  day  and 
night,  living  in  the  building  with  her  girls, 
having  them  constantly  in  close  association 
with  her,  giving  unsparingly  of  herself,  she 
lived  her  life.  She  found  time  to  know 
notable  people,  to  interest  them  to  come  to 
the  College.  Lectures  from  distinguished 
persons  abounded.  She  spread  a  rich  feast 
for  her  students  and  partook  of  it  herself. 
It  was  an  ideal  life  in  many  respects,  a  life 

50 


fed  and  sustained  by  the  affection  and  de- 
votion of  those  about  her,  a  life  of  limitless 
giving,  a  life  that  grew  larger  and  stronger, 
"in  diffusion  ever  more  intense." 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  glamour  of  her 
personality  pervaded  the  place,  that  she 
seemed  the  fit  and  consummate  flower  of 
the  young  life  which  surrounded  her.  And 
always  with  this  enthusiasm,  with  this  ra- 
diance was  the  practical  side.  Few  peo- 
ple could  manage  finances  better,  and  very 
few  had  keener  perception  in  recognizing 
quality  in  men  or  women.  She  seemed  to 
have  an  instinct  for  people,  and  her  courage 
in  those  early  days  was  boundless.  I  re- 
member once  she  asked  a  young  author  of 
a  first  book  to  join  the  English  Literature 
Department,  simply  because  she  thought 
the  style  of  the  book  good,  and  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  the  maiden  author  had  never 
taught  at  all.  It  was  harder  to  get  qualified 
teachers  then,  but  now  there  would  be  few 
college  positions  offered  to  total  inexperi- 

51 


ence.  She  gathered  clever  women  about 
her,  recognizing  ability  instantly,  and  build- 
ing up  a  faculty  which  brought  the  College 
honor. 

When  she  came  in  1879,  there  were 
three  hundred  and  seventy-five  students, 
and  she  left  the  College  with  six  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  eight  years  later.  With 
her  administration  the  policy  of  building 
small  halls  of  residence  was  begun,  and  for 
the  last  year  and  a  half  she  herself  lived  in 
Norumbega,  the  first  of  what  are  called 
the  hill  cottages. 

The  work  which  she  did  in  these  foun- 
dation days  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 
There  were  no  precedents,  no  traditions, 
she  had  a  clear  field  to  work  in,  and  she 
threw  all  her  influence  for  the  best  things  in 
scholarship  and  the  best  things  in  life.  It  was 
her  especial  characteristic  to  seize  a  point 
of  view  quickly,  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  a 
situation  instantly,  and  from  what  to  others 
might  have  been  difficulty  or  defeat,  to 

52 


achieve  victory.  Her  personal  influence 
over  her  students  was  boundless.  She 
knew  them  all  as  individuals.  By  both 
word  and  example  she  moulded  character. 
I  like  to  think  that  it  was  from  some  of 
the  perplexities  of  her  busy  and  exacting 
college  days  that  the  hymn  we  have  just 
sung  came  welling  up : 

All  Thy  waves  and  billows  go 
Over  me  to  press  me  down 

Into  arms  so  strong  I  know 
They  will  never  let  me  drown. 

This  deeper  side  of  her  nature,  rarely  re- 
vealed, gave  fullness  and  sweetness  to  that 
charming  play  of  fancy,  that  wholesome, 
kindly  humor  which  endeared  her  to  all 
who  came  in  contact  with  her.  For  she  was 
founded  upon  a  rock,  and  her  courage,  her 
bravery,  her  loyalty,  bore  witness  to  that 
foundation. 

It  seems  to  me  a  proof  of  the  growth  of 
her  life  that  she  left  all  this  at  Wellesley, 

53 


which  had  been  so  largely  the  work  of  her 
hands  and  of  her  heart,  and  found  a  larger 
usefulness  in  her  marriage.  She  laid  down 
one  specific  work  to  take  up  a  dozen  others, 
and  the  sunshine  of  her  home  touched  many 
a  life  with  glory.  In  no  other  way  could 
her  influence  have  been  so  widened,  could 
the  sanity  and  beauty  of  her  life  have  had 
its  fulfillment.  And  when  she  left  Welles- 
ley  she  carried  it  in  her  heart :  "  Wellesley, 
that  blessed  place,"  she  called  it. 

College  generations  are  short:  the 
world  moves  swiftly;  and  at  Wellesley 
for  the  last  few  years  she  had  been  a  gra- 
cious presence,  coming  a  few  times  a  win- 
ter with  cheer  and  helpful  words.  In  the 
counsels  of  the  College  few  persons  could 
carry  more  weight,  for  she  had  the  expe- 
rience of  professor,  president,  and  trustee. 
Here  again  her  enthusiasm  and  her  practi- 
cality went  hand  in  hand.  A  great  plan 
fired  her  imagination,  and  with  her  glowing 
words  the  contagion  of  her  ideal  spread. 

54 


And  then  came  the  practical  suggestion  for 
carrying  it  out — far-seeing,  calm,  willing 
to  wait,  setting  other  people  to  work,  in- 
spiring all.  It  was  never  her  own  plan 
because  it  was  her  own  plan.  She  fought 
no  personal  battles,  but  always  strove  for 
what  she  saw  as  the  larger  good,  the  better 
way. 

Such  a  life  has  in  its  very  self  the  seeds 
of  immortality.  Preeminent  among  the 
women  of  her  time,  she  loved  her  kind  with 
a  broad  human  fellowship  which  took  in 
all  ages,  all  conditions.  Hers  was  the  es- 
sentially feminine  nature,  bounteous,  life- 
giving. 

"  If,  as  I  have,  you  also  do 

Virtue  attired  in  woman  see 
And  dare  love  that,  and  say  so  too, 
And  forget  the  He  and  She — " 

This  she  saw ;  this  we  all  saw  in  her,  im- 
personal and  yet  illumined  with  personality. 
She  forgot  the  he  and  she,  as  is  testified 
by  the  universality  of  her  friendships.  She 

55 


lived  the  true  woman's  life  with  its  distinc- 
tive and  mighty  power  of  devotion — devo- 
tion not  only  to  her  family,  but  to  her  race 
and  to  her  country.  She  worked  for  women 
first,  for  she  had  a  loyal  love  of  her  sex ; 
but  always  with  the  broader  view,  with  the 
hope  of  widening  limitations,  of  opening 
closed  doors.  And  wherever  she  found  a 
soul  she  could  help,  in  man  or  woman,  the 
human  tie  became  strong.  They,  and  she 
alike,  were  children  of  God,  set  to  do  His 
work  in  the  world,  to  bring  in  a  better  day, 
to  make  the  world  a  better  place :  this  was 
her  aim,  and  this  she  accomplished. 

Alas,  that  we  shall  see  her  no  more! 
But  it  was  fitting  that  no  touch  of  age 
should  descend  upon  her.  Her  buoyant 
youthful  spirit  in  its  freshness  and  its 
sweetness,  her  clear,  far-seeing  mind,  with 
its  womanly  perceptions  and  its  trained 
grasp,  her  soul  so  full  of  the  love  of  human 
kind,  suffered  no  blight  nor  chill  of  frost. 
In  the  radiance  of  full  summer,  with  many 
56 


fruits  already  gathered  and  promise  of 
golden  autumn's  store,  she  is  gone  from  our 
sight  to  that  "day  which  is  at  hand,"  she 
has  "put  on  the  whole  armor  of  light." 

We  loved  her  for  the  loving  thoughts  which 
sped 

Straight  from  her  heart  until  they  found 
their  goal 

In  some  perplexed  or  troubled  human  soul 
And  broke  anew  the  ever  living  bread. 
We  loved  the  mind  courageous  which  no  dread 

Of  failure  ever  daunted,  whose  control 

Of  gentleness  all  opposition  stole; 
We  loved  herself  and  all  the  joy  she  shed. 

Oh  Leader  of  the  Leaders !  Like  a  light 

Thy  life  was  set,  to  counsel,  to  befriend ; 

Thy  quick  and  eager  insight  seized  the  right 
And  shared  the  prize  with  bounteous  hand, 

and  free. 
Fed  from  the  fountains  of  infinity 

Thy  life  was  service,  having  love  to  spend. 


57 


ANTHEM 

BY  MYLES  FOSTER 
SUNG  BY  THE  CHOIR  OF  WELLESLEY  COLLEGE 

'The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at  hand.  Let  us 
therefore  cast  off  the  works  of  darkness,  and  let  us 
•put  on  the  armour  of  light. 


ADDRESS 

BY  WILLIAM  JEWETT  TUCKER 
PRESIDENT  OF  DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE 


WHEN  Alice  Freeman  resigned  the  pre- 
sidency of  Wellesley  to  become  the  wife  of 
Professor  Palmer,  no  one  who  knew  them 
both  doubted  for  a  moment  those  results  in 
rare  and  generous  service  which  subse- 
quent years  have  disclosed.  Her  marriage 
was  as  beautiful  a  romance  as  ever  found 
its  way  into  the  world  of  scholars.  It  never 
ceased  to  be  that,  because  it  lost  itself  so 
quickly  and  so  naturally  in  a  mutual  devo- 
tion to  the  happiness  of  others. 

The  change,  however,  from  a  college 
to  the  home  as  a  centre  of  personal  activ- 
ity offers  a  very  severe  test  of  character. 
There  are  many  of  us  who  can  serve  insti- 
tutions who  might  utterly  fail  if  our  ser- 
vice were  suddenly  transferred,  even  by 
our  own  choice,  to  persons  and  causes. 
The  service  of  an  institution  is  a  self-sup- 
porting service.  Motives,  reasons,  methods, 
lie  deep  in  the  service  itself.  And  they  are 
continuous  in  their  action.  If  one  grows 

63 


weary  or  even  discouraged  in  such  service, 
one  may  rest  for  a  moment  and  let  the  mo- 
mentum carry  him  on  till  he  recovers  per- 
sonal strength.  It  is  the  least  wasteful  of 
all  kinds  of  service.  Everything  goes  upon 
deposit.  There  is  no  expenditure  of  thought 
or  of  energy  which  may  not  return  in  some 
form  of  substantial  and  enduring  power.  It 
is  also  the  least  exacting  service,  — one  may 
perhaps  better  say  the  least  discriminating, 
— in  respect  to  motives.  It  does  not  start 
those  morbid  questionings  which  so  often 
vex  our  attempts  at  charity  and  sacrifice. 
The  personal  and  the  professional  are 
allowed  to  be  inseparable.  The  servant 
of  an  institution  takes  the  fortune  of  the 
life  he  serves. 

The  service,  therefore,  for  which  Mrs. 
Palmer  exchanged  her  work  at  Wellesley 
seems  to  me  to  have  required  a  deeper  and 
more  sustained  unselfishness.  It  was  no 
longer,  in  the  sense  in  which  I  have  used 
the  term,  a  self-supporting  service.  It  re- 

64 


quired  the  opening  of  new  sources  of  in- 
spiration, of  endurance,  and  of  faith.  It 
required  also  a  more  delicate  adjustment 
of  herself  to  her  task.  The  spirit  of  lead- 
ership must  always  remain  true  to  itself, 
but  the  form  must  often  mightily  change 
as  it  passes  from  control  and  direction  to 
comradeship  and  cooperation. 

I  will  name  three  characteristics  of  Mrs. 
Palmer  in  the  more  public  relations  of  her 
later  life  which  constantly  impressed  me. 
First,  the  utter  and  entire  absence  of  the 
spirit  of  patronage.  Various  people  sought 
Mrs.  Palmer  because  of  her  superior  wis- 
dom and  tact  and  force.  She  never  allowed 
them  to  feel  her  superiority.  Girls  came  to 
her  as  before,  confused  of  purpose,  often 
discouraged.  She  recognized  with  fine  in- 
stinct the  necessity  in  the  case  of  each  one 
that  the  choice  which  was  to  settle  her 
doubts  or  difficulties  must  be  her  own 
choice,  not  some  choice  superimposed 
upon  her.  So  she  began  at  once  to  create 

65 


the  conditions  for  an  intelligent,  abiding, 
and,  if  possible,  enthusiastic  choice.  Who- 
ever among  such  persons  left  her  presence 
was  quite  sure  to  take  away  something 
different  from  that  which  she  expected, — 
not  comfort,  advice,  inspiration,  but  rather 
a  new  consciousness  of  self.  Various  causes 
were  presented  to  her.  Some  of  them  were 
put  before  her  for  her  patronage.  They 
seldom  received  it.  She  reserved  herself 
for  those  causes  which  needed  her  help, 
causes  with  which  she  could  identify  her- 
self. The  incoming  of  her  personality  into 
the  movements  of  which  she  was  to  be  a 
part  did  not  disturb  those  already  in  leader- 
ship ;  there  was  simply  the  sense  of  accel- 
erated motion  or  of  a  change  of  direction. 
A  second  characteristic  was  intellectual 
appreciation.  Mrs.  Palmer's  sympathies 
were  quick  and  wide.  So  were  her  mental 
perceptions.  It  was  the  intellectual  quality 
which  could  be  relied  upon  to  assert  itself 
when  that  alone  would  suffice,  expressing 

66 


itself  in  a  sanity  which  no  sentiment  could 
disturb,  and  with  a  vision  which  no  sym- 
pathies could  divert  or  obscure.  The  val- 
uation which  Mrs.  Palmer  put  upon  the 
causes  with  which  she  became  identified 
was  usually  greater  than  that  which  they 
had  before  received,  but  it  was  often 
reached  by  a  very  discriminating  process. 
Her  mind  was  sensitively  intolerant  of  un- 
reality of  any  sort.  If  any  unreal  thing 
had  become  for  any  reason  sacred  to  others, 
as  is  quite  apt  to  be  the  case,  she  respected 
the  blind  or  unreasoning  faith,  but  she 
wrought  none  the  less  straight  toward 
reality.  I  do  not  know  that  she  ever 
threw  off  any  followers.  Her  intellectual 
appreciation  was  so  clear,  so  accordant  with 
reason  and  with  faith,  so  informed  with 
spiritual  passion,  that  following  elsewhere 
seemed  to  be  missing  the  way. 

A  third  characteristic  of  Mrs.  Palmer's 
relation  to  the  more  public  service  of  her 
later  life  was  her  contribution  of  faith,  the 

67 


rarest  gift  to  a  person  or  a  cause.  Mrs. 
Palmer  believed  greatly,  sometimes  se- 
renely, sometimes  passionately,  in  those 
things  which  she  deemed  worthy  of  her 
faith.  It  was  so  true,  so  right  a  kind  of 
believing,  that  it  communicated  itself.  If  it 
was  directed  toward  persons,  they  began  to 
believe  in  themselves ;  if  it  was  directed  to- 
ward causes,  those  who  had  them  most  at 
heart  saw  a  new  hope.  Mrs.  Palmer's  faith 
was  supported  by  works.  We  always  knew 
that.  Perhaps  the  knowledge  made  up  a 
part  of  our  faith.  But  not  primarily. 
Here  was  one  who  had  the  great  quali- 
ties of  vision,  the  sense  of  reality,  courage 
to  look  ahead,  and  spiritual  obedience.  I 
have  said  elsewhere  in  substance  that  the 
death  of  Mrs.  Palmer  has  impoverished 
that  common  fund  upon  which  we  are 
wont  to  draw  in  all  our  moral  and  spirit- 
ual activities,  without  stopping  to  ask  whose 
contributions  are  greatest.  Now  we  know 
who  was  one  of  the  great  givers.  We  do 

68 


not  easily  see  from  what  source  the  fund 
is  to  be  replenished  to  meet  our  daily 
drafts.  As  we  try  to  embody  in  some 
memorial  a  few  permanent  and  tangible 
results  of  Mrs.  Palmer's  life,  we  feel  how 
slight  are  the  values  we  propose,  if  they 
shall  be  realized,  when  measured  by  the 
value  of  her  personal  power  as  we  were 
wont  to  draw  upon  it. 

You  do  not,  of  course,  wish,  out  of  pride 
in  those  causes  with  which  Mrs.  Palmer 
was  identified,  that  I  should  enumerate  or 
name  them  in  this  presence,  when  we  are 
here  to  think  of  her.  The  range  of  Mrs. 
Palmer's  later  service  was  wide,  but  it 
was  held  within  the  limits  of  her  sense  of 
her  own  appropriate  and  effective  power. 
Her  sphere  of  action  was  chiefly  educa- 
tional, to  a  degree  religious,  and  to  a  degree 
charitable,  but  always  open  to  the  approach 
of  individuals.  Nothing  human  was  foreign 
to  her.  She  made  quick  and  lasting  contact 
with  personal  life.  It  is  fit  that  we  seek  to 

69 


continue  her  influence  through  the  estab- 
lishment of  those  ministries  which  are  set 
toward  power,  especially  of  those  which 
are  set  for  the  development  of  personal 
power. 

It  is  not  within  my  province  to  speak  of 
those  qualities  of  Mrs.  Palmer  which  con- 
tributed so  largely  to  the  sanctity  or  the 
charm  of  the  home.  But  I  may  be  par- 
doned this  closing  word,  as  I  have  been 
asked  to  speak  of  Mrs.  Palmer  in  her  public 
relations.  There  was  no  difference  in  Mrs. 
Palmer  in  her  private  and  public  relations. 
She  was  always  and  everywhere  the  same 
person,  doing  things  appropriately  accord- 
ing to  time  and  place,  but  simply  herself 
in  doing  them.  Had  she  been  otherwise,  it 
might  have  seemed  necessary  for  me  to  say 
more  about  her  works.  In  place  of  that,  we 
are  permitted  this  hour  of  grateful,  loving, 
joyous  appreciation  of  herself,  a  prophecy 
I  think  of  the  continuous  power  which  will 
live  in  the  name,  Alice  Freeman  Palmer. 

70 


ADDRESS 

BY  CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT 
PRESIDENT  OF  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


MRS.  PALMER'S  personal  qualities  have 
already  been  vividly  described,  and  this 
assembly  has  recognized  and  approved  the 
descriptions.  Her  spiritual  qualities  im- 
pressed themselves  on  the  most  casual  ob- 
server. Her  quick,  responsive  sympathy 
shone  from  her  eyes.  Her  alertness  and 
ardor  animated  her  bodily  gestures  and 
movements ;  her  generosity  and  unself- 
ish devotion  to  the  interests  of  others  were 
manifested  in  the  least  actions  of  her  daily 
life,  as  well  as  in  her  professional  work  in 
the  cause  of  education.  One  flower,  one 
tree,  one  baby,  one  bird  singing,  or  one 
little  village  would  move  her  to  love  and 
praise  as  surely  as  a  garden,  a  forest,  a 
university,  an  orchestra,  or  a  great  city. 
She  was  emphatically  a  person  who  gave 
out  information,  sympathy,  advice,  and  mo- 
tive power.  She  asked  all  these  things  from 
Nature  and  from  men  and  women;  but  even 
while  asking  she  responded  in  full  measure. 

73 


She  was  often  eager  to  get  another's  opin- 
ion ;  but  getting  it,  she  gave  her  own,  and 
in  a  moment  there  was  sympathetic  reac- 
tion between  two  souls.  In  the  presence 
of  a  person  who  she  thought  could  teach 
her  something  she  was  an  intent  listener 
and  quick  commentator;  but  whatever  of 
wisdom  or  virtue  she  had  won  from  another 
she  was  instantly  ready  to  impart. 

Her  temperament  was  in  the  highest  de- 
gree responsive  to  the  moods  of  Nature,  to 
natural  and  spiritual  beauty,  to  any  sud- 
den revelation  of  a  human  soul,  and  to  the 
subtlest  expressions  of  human  joy  or  woe. 
There  is  no  more  winning  or  commanding 
quality  in  man  or  woman  than  this  radiant 
responsiveness,  nor  any  which  secures  to 
the  person  who  possesses  it  a  surer  growth 
or  an  ampler  happiness. 
,  The  sources  of  Mrs.  Palmer's  great  and 
lasting  influence  on  American  society  lay 
deep  in  these  rare  spiritual  gifts  of  hers, 
which  were  indeed  a  native  endowment,  but 

74 


were  also  trained  and  developed  by  a  daily 
practice  which  became  ever  larger  and  finer 
as  her  life  went  on. 

As  we  look  back  on  the  chief  events  of 
her  too  short  career,  the  first  thing  that 
strikes  us  is  its  originality  at  every  stage  ; 
she  was  in  the  best  sense  a  pioneer  all 
through  her  life.  When  she  went  to  the 
University  of  Michigan  as  a  student,  she 
was  one  of  a  small  band  of  young  women 
venturing  with  motives  of  intellectual  am- 
bition into  a  state  university  which  had 
been  opened  to  women.  At  twenty-two 
years  of  age  she  was  already  principal  of  a 
high  school  in  Michigan.  At  twenty-four 
she  took  a  professorship  of  history  in  a  new 
college  for  women  where  all  the  officers 
and  teachers  were  women  —  a  pioneer 
work  indeed.  At  twenty-six  she  became 
president  of  that  novel  college  at  a  time 
when  its  worth  had  not  yet  been  demon- 
strated. Indeed  its  policy  was  then  held  by 
many  to  be  of  doubtful  soundness,  and  its 

75 


financial  future  extremely  difficult.  What 
courage  and  self-devotion  these  successive 
acts  required  !  Her  work  at  Wellesley  was 
creation,  not  imitation ;  and  it  was  work 
done  in  the  face  of  doubts,  criticisms,  and 
prophecies  of  evil.  After  six  years  of  mas- 
terly work  at  Wellesley  College,  in  which 
she  exhibited  the  keenest  intelligence,  large 
executive  ability,  and  a  remarkable  capa- 
city for  engaging  sympathy  and  winning 
affection  and  respect,  —  a  capacity  which 
assured  her  success  in  the  profession  of 
education,  —  she  laid  down  these  functions, 
married  at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  and  appa- 
rently entered  on  a  wholly  new  career.  Alice 
Freeman  thus  gave  the  most  striking  testi- 
mony she  could  give  of  her  faith  in  the  fun- 
damental social  principle,  that  love  between 
man  and  woman  and  the  family  life  which 
results  therefrom  afford  for  each  sex  the 
conditions  of  its  greatest  usefulness  and 
honor,  and  of  its  supreme  happiness.  The 
opponents  of  the  higher  education  of  women 

76 


had  always  argued  that  such  education 
would  tend  to  prevent  marriage,  and  to 
dispossess  the  family  as  the  corner-stone  of 
society.  Alice  Freeman  gave  the  whole 
force  of  her  conspicuous  example  to  dis- 
prove that  objection.  She  illustrated  in  her 
own  case  the  supremacy  of  love  and  of 
family  life  in  the  heart  of  both  man  and 
woman.  Children  were  denied  her;  but 
her  love  of  children  was  intense,  and  her 
disappointment  that  she  had  none  of  her 
own  merely  made  her  all  the  more  eager 
ta  love  and  serve  the  children  of  others. 

Mrs.  Palmer  had  been  but  two  years 
in  Cambridge  when  she  was  appointed  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of 
Education,  an  office  she  held  for  the  rest 
of  her  life.  Her  services  in  this  Board  were 
highly  productive.  She  was  always  influ- 
ential with  the  Board  itself,  with  the  Legis- 
lature, and  with  the  successive  Governors 
of  the  Commonwealth.  In  particular,  she 
contributed  largely  to  the  recent  elevation 

77 


of  the  Normal  Schools,  a  measure  not  less 
important  than  their  creation  during  the 
administration  of  Horace  Mann  as  Secre- 
tary of  the  Board. 

She  labored  constantly  to  build  up  all 
sorts  of  institutions  which  might  promote 
or  improve  the  education  of  girls  and 
women  at  any  stage.  She  worked  for 
women's  clubs,  for  the  Association  of  Col- 
legiate Alumna*,  and  for  teachers'  institutes 
and  societies,  endeavoring  always  to  inter- 
est such  institutions  in  productive  work  for 
the  benefit  of  women.  She  knew  that  by 
building  up  these  institutions  she  could  se- 
cure permanent  protection,  incitement,  and 
guidance  for  judicious  efforts  to  improve 
the  education  of  the  sex  and  its  conditions 
of  employment.  She  longed  to  see  grow 
strong  and  firm  the  institutional  life  which 
outlasts  the  individual  life.  She  welcomed 
and  would  work  for  any  institution  that 
brought  strength  to  the  educational  cause 
so  dear  to  her.  She  would  do  anything  in 

78 


her  power  for  a  coeducational  institution 
like  the  University  of  Michigan  or  the 
Chicago  University;  for  a  separate  col- 
lege for  women  like  Wellesley;  for  a 
woman's  college  affiliated  with  a  univer- 
sity like  Radcliffe  or  Barnard;  or t  for  a 
technical  school  for  women  like  the  new 
Simmons  College  in  Boston.  She  would 
throw  herself  with  the  greatest  ardor  into 
the  cause  of  an  old  academy  threatened 
with  extinction, — like  Bradford  Academy 
at  Haverhill,  —  and  in  a  few  years  would 
lift  it  into  a  life  more  vigorous  than  it  had 
ever  known  before.  In  such  enterprises 
she  would  take  great  responsibility, — such, 
for  instance,  as  the  responsibility  of  recom- 
mending a  principal  or  a  dean.  If  the  case 
were  difficult,  and  her  advice  about  it  had 
been  accepted,  she  would  shrink  from  no 
labor  in  the  endeavor  to  win  a  good  result. 
During  the  fifteen  years  of  her  residence 
in  Cambridge  her  public  work  was  always 
growing  on  her  hands,  and  she  labored  to 
79 


the  full  limit  of  her  strength,  and  often  be- 
yond that  limit.  She  held  many  offices, 
spoke  often  in  public,  received  much  ap- 
plause, and  innumerable  expressions  of 
love  and  gratitude;  but  through  all  this 
experience  she  remained  perfectly  simple, 
natural,  and  spontaneous.  From  the  time 
that  she  began  to  teach,  her  labors  were  in 
the  highest  degree  fruitful,  —  fruitful  in 
building  up  educational  institutions,  and  in 
establishing  or  developing  social  institu- 
tions which  will  have  continuing  influence 
for  good,  and  still  more  fruitful  in  building 
up  the  judgment  and  character  of  thou- 
sands of  girls  and  young  women.  Who 
raises  woman  raises  mankind. 

To  my  mind  this  career  is  unmatched  by 
that  of  any  other  American  woman.  The 
only  American  woman's  career  that  comes 
to  my  mind  as  at  all  comparable  with  that 
of  Mrs.  Palmer  is  the  long  career  of  Doro- 
thea Dix,  but  Miss  Dix's  work  was  devoted 
to  the  palliation,  or  the  remedying  in  some 

80 


measure,  of  hideous  evils  in  American  so- 
ciety, such,  for  example,  as  the  condition  of 
prisons;  while  Mrs.  Palmer's  career  was 
devoted  to  positive,  constructive  labors  in 
promoting  the  well-being  of  the  people,  and 
cultivating  their  best  mental  and  spiritual 
faculties.  Her  work  lay  in  a  higher  field. 
We  cannot  but  believe  that  in  the  long  run 
the  surest  way  to  cure  evils  is  to  supplant 
evil  by  good. 

Believing  Mrs.  Palmer's  life  and  labors 
to  be  the  best  example  thus  far  set  before 
American  womanhood,  I  think  her  career 
should  be  commemorated  nobly  at  the  in- 
stitutions of  education  which  her  presence 
exalted  and  enriched  in  her  youth  and  in 
her  maturity. 


li 


ANTHEM 

BY  HERBERT  HALL  WOODWARD 
SUNG  BY  THE  CHOIR  OF  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 

Crossing  the  Bar 

Sunset  and  evening  star. 

And  one  clear  call  for  me  ! 
And  may  there  be  no  moaning  of  the  bart 

When  I  put  out  to  sea, 

But  such  a  tide  as  moving  seems  asleep. 

Too  full  for  sound  and  foam. 
When  that  which  drew  from  out  the  boundless  deep 

Turns  again  home. 

Twilight  and  evening  belly 

And  after  that  the  dark  ! 
And  may  there  be  no  sadness  of  farewell, 

When  I  embark  ; 

For  tho'  from  out  our  bourne  of  Time  and  Place 

The  flood  may  bear  me  far, 
I  hope  to  see  my  Pilot  face  to  face 

When  I  have  crost  the  bar. 

ALFRED  TENNYSON 


PRAYER 

BY 
REVEREND  FRANCIS  GREENWOOD  PEABODY 


GRANT  to  us  all  Thy  blessing,  our  Hea- 
venly Father,  as  we  go  on  our  way  back 
into  the  waiting  world ;  and  strengthen  us 
by  the  abiding  memory  of  a  strong  and 
gentle  soul.  We  thank  Thee  for  this  gift 
to  us  of  the  wisdom  of  simplicity,  the  truth 
that  makes  free,  the  insight  of  the  pure  in 
heart.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  lessons  we 
are  taught  of  duty  and  service,  of  love  and 
peace.  Sanctify  this  sorrow  to  the  hearts 
that  mourn,  that  they  may  be  comforted. 
May  the  great  word  of  the  Master  be 
spoken  again:  "Let  not  your  heart  be 
troubled.  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you; " 
and  as  the  vision  of  the  larger  life  grows 
clear,  make  heaven  seem  like  home,  as 
home  has  seemed  like  heaven.  And  to  us 
all,  as  we  part  in  loving  friendship,  speak 
Thy  message  of  quietness  and  strength. 
Send  us  to  our  duties  with  a  calmer  mind. 
Deliver  us  from  the  fear  alike  of  life  and 
of  death.  Teach  us  to  live  as  those  pre- 
87 


pared  to  die,  and  then  to  die  as  those  pre- 
pared to  live ;  that  so,  among  the  changes 
and  chances  of  this  life,  neither  things  pre- 
sent nor  things  to  come,  nor  life,  nor  death, 
nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to 
separate  us  from  Thy  love,  which  is  in 
Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord. 

In  His  name  we  ask  it.   Amen. 


88 


HYMN 

SUNG  BY  THE  WHOLE  COMPANY 

O  God,  our  help  in  ages  past, 

Our  hope  for  years  to  come, 
Our  shelter  from  the  stormy  blast, 

And  our  eternal  home, 

Before  the  hills  in  order  stood. 
Or  earth  received  her  frame, 

From  everlasting  Thou  art  God, 
To  endless  years  the  same. 

A  thousand  ages  in  Thy  sight 

Are  like  an  evening  gone, 
Short  as  the  watch  that  ends  the  night 

Before  the  rising  sun. 

O  God,  our  help  in  ages  past, 
Our  hope  for  years  to  come, 

Be  'Thou  our  guard  while  troubles  last, 
And  our  eternal  home. 

ISAAC  WATTS 


BY 
REVEREND  FRANCIS  GREENWOOD   PEABODY 


THE  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  — 
that  grace  which  is  made  perfect  through 
suffering;  and  the  love  of  God — that  love 
which  casts  out  fear ;  and  the  communion 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  —  that  communion 
which  makes  one  family  in  earth  and  hea- 
ven ;  be  with  us  all.  Amen. 


HARK  HITHER,  READER,  WOUL1/ST  THOU  SEE 

NATURE  HER  OWN  PHYSICIAN  BE  ; 

WOULD'ST  SEE  A  SOUL  ALL  HER  OWN  WEALTH, 

HER  OWN  MUSIC,  HER  OWN  HEALTH  } 

A  SOUL  WHOSE  SOBER  THOUGHT  CAN  TELL 

HOW  TO  WEAR  HER  GARMENTS  WELL, 

HER  GARMENTS  THAT  UPON  HER  SIT 

(AS  GARMENTS  SHOULD  DO)  CLOSE  AND  FIT  ; 

A  WELL-CLOTH'D  SOUL,  THAT  's  NOT  OPPREST 

NOR  CHOKT  WITH  WHAT  SHE  SHOULD  BE  DREST, 

BUT  SHEATHED  IN  A  CRYSTAL  SHRINE, 

THROUGH  WHICH  ALL  HER  BRIGHT  FEATURES  SHINE  ; 

A  SOUL  WHOSE  INTELLECTUAL  BEAMS 

NO  MISTS  DO  MASK,  NO  LAZY  STEAMS  ; 

A  HAPPY  SOUL,  THAT  ALL  THE  WAY 

TO  HEAVEN  HATH  A  SUMMER'S  DAY  ; 

WHOSE  LATEST  AND  MOST  LEADEN  HOURS 

FALL  WITH   SOFT  WINGS,  STUCK  WITH   SOFT  FLOWERS  J 

AND  WHEN  LIFE'S  SWEET  FABLE  ENDS 

THIS  SOUL  AND  BODY  PART  LIKE  FRIENDS  ; 

NO  QUARRELS,  MURMURS,  NO  DELAY  ; 

A  KISS,  A  SIGH,  AND  SO  AWAY. 

RICHARD   CRASHAW 


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